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Antarctic scientists plead for help after ‘sexual assault and threats’ by colleague
(www.telegraph.co.uk)
this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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I would think frontier justice would apply nicely in this situation. Just boot the asshole out in the cold and nature will solve the problem for you.
Women and some other minorities are raised to not even consider using acts of violence to protect ourselves, like it never crosses our minds as a possibility that we could physically hurt an assailant if we wanted to. We have internalized a sense of weakness that isn’t actually true. This has been detrimental to our safety as well as the safety of other women. Fuck the patriarchy for doing this to us.
Plus fear of being believed, self blame and feeling of needing to be polite.
The need to be polite and feeling of blame are both an extension of the lie that we are weak and can’t physically stand up for ourselves. It doesn’t necessarily matter whether we’re believed if we are ultimately safe from the assault in the first place.
But our culture has made us forget that we are strong and capable, has raised us to never develop the muscles to be able to stop someone, to never tear an assailant’s skin off with our teeth, etc.
I could be wildly out of left field, here, and I am extremely privileged that I’ve never been hurt in this way. I just want to see minorities believe that we are strong…because we are.
I agree with a lot of what you say. Just bear in mind if they kill/harm someone to prevent themselves being raped, they have to explain this to various authorities. And may feel they won't be believed
Yeah, that’s a good point.
Because for a long time we weren't believed. It's why #metoo was so important.
Agreed. The fact that we have to depend on structurally patriarchal/domineering justice system is the problem… It’s a whole mess.
I am sad for the way you were raised, in my entire extended family there is not one woman who would have put up with it or had any thought other than self-defense at whatever cost.
I’d love to spread your family’s mindset through the larger white American culture (the one in which I was raised)!
I was raised in America as well.
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're not a woman. I think you're underestimating how prevalent and protected sexual assault can be
You mean there aren't any women who would talk about it in your family I guess, cause statistically speaking that's not likely.
It's not really unique to women or SA. I'm not trying to downplay the severity of it, I'm merely highlighting how most crimes are actually quite hard to prove and get justice for.
For example, most people whose cars are broken into never receive justice.
Don't put this on the victims. Women are doing their best to defend themselves.
Unfortunately there's a culture of sexual assault at Antarctica, where the "boys will be boys" crowd overrule the kind of thing @the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world just suggested.
I never once blamed the victims. And I never will.
My point is that the women being sexually assaulted in Antarctica haven't been passively sitting there saying it "never crossed their mind" to protect themselves - one had to walk around for months wielding a hammer to use as a weapon against her assailant.
It's the wider system down there and the rape culture society that is creating this system not some kind of passive internaluzed helplessness. Most women field scientists are tough as nails because they have to be.
Absolutely 100%. I think basic self-defense should be a required course in middle school or high school, especially for women. And I would encourage any woman or any person for that matter to take charge of their personal defense, in whatever way is most comfortable for them. Carry a gun, carry a taser, carry pepper spray, take martial arts classes like Krav, etc.
Schools should be teaching boys to respect women and not believe they have a 'right' to women's bodies.
If we hit the source of the problem it can be fixed ... and the source is not women, it's boys/men.
While this argument makes sense on paper, it completely nullifies the point. Both should be taught for the following reasons:
"It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war."
Problem is everybody focuses on teaching girls/women and lets the boys/men off with nothing.
Yes, both should be taught ... so start pushing for the boys/men now.
A gun is pretty much the best solution, especially for a woman.
Tasers, pepper spray, martial arts, etc don't always work and usually serve to just piss off your assailant.
I keep saying this: women and minorities should be the ones owning the most guns, not white males.
Have you watched the handmaids tale series? Spoiler alert, but
the main character starts out seemingly powerless, being repeatedly assaulted etc. By the 3rd series she's murdered one of the state sponsored rapists by stabbing him with a pen I think, then the other women hide the evidence and secretly cremate the guy in a furnace.
The lesson I took is that people are always more powerful than they think and solidarity is very important.
Also that the attitude #TraumatiseThemBack is valid when dealing with evil.
I have! That show absolutely terrifies me, since yeah, a small minority of people convinces a ton of other people to do violence against women in a way that feels very USA 2025. But that’s a great point! When the main character realizes her power, she goes far in protecting herself and others.
It’s difficult because our culture trains us from birth to never realize we can fight back. Like, I have a strong suspicion that if I was suddenly attacked, my brain would dump all ideas of fighting back and just freeze, which of course allows the violence to happen. I don’t think this is a “natural state” of being for women or any person. I think we were just trained this way, which makes it a very difficult mindset to overcome; I believe that this is by design.
So…how do we retrain women and girls to respond with a #traumatizethemback mindset? Seems impossible to do this at the cultural level, at least for several generations.
Find, and take, local self defence classes. Not necessarily martial arts classes (though they may be involved), but real world self defence. It'll be grittier, nastier and much better practice. Get used to grappling and fighting in a controlled environment, and you'll be much less likely to freeze if you need it in an emergency.
You're right that'll it'll take a long time to change at a cultural level, but that needs to start somewhere, and obe person doing it and then encouraging others could be a local catalyst.
Thank you for the encouragement. I do need to do this. Especially with the current climate in the USA.
Exactly what I was thinking.
When you're cut off from any help, you ARE your own help. Don't wait for something unthinkable to happen, this person has made it clear they don't respect you or boundaries, and have made threats.
It's 9v1, if you're scared just wait until they're asleep. Kick them out the door, lock it, and they can try walking their happy ass back to civilization. from Antarctica
Don't bother looking for a body.
Same, too many people on here have a defeatist mindset and it baffles me.
Watch out for what comes back if you do that.
Your comment is kinda case-in-point demonstrating how "frontier" justice can be unjust.
Other publications are reporting physical assault, not sexual. It could have been a slap. Still unacceptable but probably doesn't deserve death by exposure.
My point is, it sounds like a difficult situation but following procedure and running it up the chain is always the right move.
The body of this article also only mentions physical assault. It appears the telegraph completely made up the sexual assault part and is whipping people into a frenzy over it.
Yeah, well, sexual assault in the antarctic is a lot more clickable I guess.
That is close to my thought, "Hey asshole, you gotta sleep sometime..."
Exactly, thank you.